When Brian Ashton’s year-long tenure as Ireland coach a decade ago came to an ill-starred end, it seemed few shed a tear at his departure. The relationship had clearly not worked and a quick divorce was to the benefit of both parties. However, with hindsight, it is clear that the country now ranked in the world’s top three has much for which to thank the man charged with plotting the downfall of Ireland at Croke Park on Saturday.

It was Ashton who was mainly responsible for drawing up the blueprint for the structure that has served the country so well since the Millennium. Indeed, it is being described in some quarters as his legacy.

When he signed his unprecedented six-year contract in January 1997, Ashton advocated a system and structure based on the existing four provinces each with a full-time coach and a squad of 25 professionals. In fact, it was a condition of his appointment and when the IRFU failed to deliver, it was one of the main reasons for his exit. Although he was not around to see its eventual implementation, Ashton is now recognised as the driving force who hastened the process for a country that had farther to come than most in terms of embracing professionalism.

Certainly, Eddie O’Sullivan, who had just moved to the United States when Ashton arrived in Ireland, agrees that a debt is owed to the Englishman. “He had a big input in suggesting the union pool their resources into the four provinces with four professional sides and build the national squad around that,” the Ireland coach said. “Had he not been a catalyst at that point in dealing with the union, they may not have taken those strides so quickly. He has to take credit for that, for the strength of our structure in the last number of years.”

Denis Hickie, the only playing survivor from 1997, and who was first capped under Ashton, remembers the impact made by the now England head coach. “It was fantastic for me because I was not just going to be on the wing chasing kicks all day,” he said. “He had a real vision. The reality, though, was that we were not the team to deliver it at that time.”

The story of Ashton’s time with Ireland is told in a fascinating account of the often rocky journey to professionalism trodden by the country. In the book From There to Here, Brendan Fanning, rugby correspondent of the Sunday Independent, chronicles the events that led to Ashton being appointed and all too rapidly leaving, after he refused to move to Dublin full time because he felt the IRFU was not delivering on what he felt had been promised. The irony is that process of what Fanning calls “Operation Repatriate” began soon after Ashton left.

The fact that Ashton lasted such a short time was because of a combination of factors — a personality clash with Pat Whelan, the manager, chief among them. Ultimately, however, it was the Lancastrian’s anger and exasperation at the amateurism that he felt pervaded all levels of Irish rugby at the time that prompted his exit. Fanning recounts examples of incidents that incurred Ashton’s ire; of a plane being diverted from Shannon via Dublin to Edinburgh to pick up committee men; a drunken “blazer” whose cigar smoke set off the fire alarm at the team hotel the night before an international in Wales; and players singing and joking on the team bus after losing heavily to the Maoris.

After one poor Five Nations Championship and a development tour to New Zealand and Samoa that descended into farce and a series of spectacular fallouts with players, among them Conor O’Shea, ironically now the head of the RFU’s academies, Ashton walked away in the spring of 1998.

Fanning, though, makes it clear that not all the blame lay with Ireland and that the coach had to look at himself.

O’Shea appreciated how hard it was for Ashton to work in an alien environment and with players who were not up to scratch. “The system and structure was not there when he was coach,” O’ Shea said yesterday. “The bridge between the All Ireland club league and international rugby was just too great. Now there are 40 players willing to sacrifice everything. There has always been the talent in Ireland, just not the application.”

- From There to Here by Brendan Fanning is available through gillmacmillan.ie

Strife of Brian

Brian Ashton’s record with Ireland, 1997-1998

1997
Five Nations Ireland 15 France 32; Wales 25 Ireland 26; Ireland 6 England 46; Scotland 38 Ireland 10

Summer tour Northland 69 Ireland XV 16; New Zealand Academy 74 Ireland XV 15; Bay of Plenty 52 Ireland XV 39; Thames Valley 12 Ireland XV 38; King Country 32 Ireland XV 26; NZ Maori 41 Ireland XV 10; Western Samoa 57 Ireland 25

November Ireland 15 New Zealand 63; Ireland 33 Canada 11; Italy 37 Ireland 22

1998
Five Nations Ireland 16 Scotland 17